Ring in 2010 with good friends, great food and bubbles

Marcia Vanderlip

Wednesday

Dec 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 30, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Over at the Wine Cellar & Bistro, both Craig and Sarah Cyr get absolutely bubbly when they talk about sparkling wines. “We always drink something sparkling for a special occasion,” said Craig, the executive chef and co-owner. His partner and wife, Sarah, serves as bookkeeper and canny sommelier. She enjoys many styles of wine, but she smiles big when she says, “I’m a bubbles drinker.”

The Villa Grande Pinot Prosecco Rosa, NV— $14. A pretty in pink prosecco. The pinot nero grape gives it the bright-pink color. Opens with strawberries and peaches and a dry finish. Bring it to the party.

Nino Franco Prosecco di Valdobbiade “Rustico” NV — $16. One of my favorite proseccos for summer afternoons on the patio. This prosecco from Veneto, Italy, is balanced, dry and crisp with a clean finish. Nice with the creamy cheeses and seafood. The winemaker suggests using a white wine glass, not a traditional flute.

Pierre Boniface Brut de Savoie Les Rocailles, NV—$20. A high-elevation treat from the French Alps with 60 percent Jacquere, 20 percent chardonnay and 20 percent Altesse grapes. The minerality, hint of apple and yeasty character make it great for pairing with seafood. Serve it with oysters or shrimp.

Gerard Bertrand Cremant de Limoux, 2007 — $14.50. From 70 percent chardonnay, 20 percent chenin blanc, 10 percent Mauzac grapes and made in the Languedoc region of southern France — the origin of French sparkling wines. Golden honey and balanced fruit. A good one to hover over — with a short finish.

Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose, NV—$84. Champagne made from a blend of chardonnay, pinot meunier and pinot noir. The winemaker suggests serving it with sushi, wild salmon or with red berries. Elegant and delicious.

Rumball Sparkling Shiraz — $19. A feisty Australian sparkling wine for red wine drinkers who think they don’t like sparkling wines. A fine match for strong cheeses or turkey with cranberry sauce.

The couple recently welcomed their first child, May, in October. The afternoon May was born, the couple’s families and doctors gathered around Sarah’s coconut cake and a bottle of 2008 Saracco Muscado.

Sarah missed the postpartum toast, so she made up for it in November at the bistro’s fifth annual bubbly tasting and appetizer pairing. Craig cranked out the appetizers while Sarah mingled with guests who tried 10 different bottles of bubbly offered by Bommarito and Golden Barrel wine representatives.

The smorgasbord of food offerings included a creamy butternut custard, laced with truffle oil and topped with parsnip crisps, smoked salmon in puff pastry, plates of nori rolls topped with salmon roe, sections of brie with tapenade, berries and a pear dessert — all serving to reveal the versatility of sparkling wines.

“Since we were doing so many different sparkling wines from different regions, first I looked for different affinities. I came up with a list of ingredients that would pair with each grape and then formulated dishes from that,” Craig said.

When he finished cooking, he surveyed his spread and selected a couple of grilled East Coast oysters with house-cured bacon and a spicy tomato ragout to go with a glass of Pierre Boniface Brut de Savoie Les Rocailles. “I like the full gamut — the pinots, the chardonnays and the sweet ones, too,” he said, but the “Les Rocailles was really great with oysters.”

For dessert, the best idea was to sip the Saracco Moscato d’ Asti and dip the spiced pear empanadas into the crème brûlée. A perfect trifecta. You might also try the empanada recipe with a vanilla custard sauce or vanilla ice cream.

Among my favorite taste-pairings of the evening was the creamy butternut squash custard spoons (the recipe is also included here) with the 2007 Gerard Bertrand Cremant de Limoux, a blend of chardonnay, chenin blanc and Mauzac grapes.

Although a lively Champagne or sparkling wine can lighten moods, they also can lighten the experience of some of those rich and fatty holiday foods. On New Year’s Day, Craig said, “You could find me eating fried potatoes, hollandaise sauce and drinking Champagne — I would be perfectly happy.”

New Year’s Eve seems like the right excuse to broaden our horizons, sampling a variety of sparkling wines to go with salty, creamy, savory, spicy and sweet appetizers.

Asian food, sushi or nori rolls seem meant for proseccos and cavas. If you are thinking of buying some sushi at the grocery for a party, be sure to ask for extra wasabi; the bubbles in sparkling wines do a nice job of lifting the wasabi heat from the tongue.

Smoked trout and salmon are excellent with the sparkling wines. Although “not everyone can go out and buy caviar,” Craig said, “a little bit goes a long way.”

Tapenade atop a bit of brie or triple-cream cheese was particularly nice with the Villa Grande Pinot Prosecco Rosa. Goatsbeard’s aged Prairie Bloom cheese was delicious with the crisp Nino Franco Prosecco Rustico. The raspberries and strawberries went well with a Carbo semi-dry cava, and the smoked duck nori rolls paired nicely with the curious Rumball Sparkling shiraz and with any of the sparkling roses.

This time of year, the champagnes and sparkling wines are plentiful and varied in wine specialty shops, particularly in recent years as a greater range of inexpensive and refreshing Italian proseccos and Spanish cavas have made it to the States.

So many bottles, so little time to ring in the next decade.

This list of possibilities ranges from $12 for the straightforward Spanish cava to $84 for the elegant Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose Champagne. All are available for retail sale at the Wine Cellar & Bistro. Many of these also are available at local specialty wine stores such as Top Ten Wines.

CREAMY BUTTERNUT SQUASH CUSTARD SPOONS

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 small yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 ounce brandy

Honey to taste

Salt to taste

White pepper to taste

1 tablespoons butter for sautéing

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup water

4 whole eggs

3 parsnips, peeled and shaved into thin strips with potato peeler place in ice water until they have become turgid again before frying.

Black truffle oil for garnish

Prepare ingredients as above and, over medium heat in saucepan, add butter and sauté garlic and onion until lightly caramelized. Then add brandy and cook off alcohol. Add the squash, cream and water and reduce heat to simmer, cook the squash-cream mixture until squash is fork-tender. Remove from heat and place in a blender or food processor, or, if using an immersion blender, leave in the pan and purée. Season the mixture with honey, salt and pepper to taste and then blend in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Bake mixture in small ramekins for individual portions or in a 9-by-13-inch glass casserole dish for the spoon canapé presentation at 350 degrees until the custard has set firm. Remove from heat and let cool at room temperature. For the presentation with teaspoons or soup spoons, form into a smooth mound onto the spoon and place onto a platter. Before serving, drizzle with truffle oil and top with fried parsnips.

To fry parsnips, bring canola oil to 350 degrees in pan or home fryer and fry until light brown in small batches until crispy. Strain and place on a paper towel. Season with salt.

Makes: 24 soup spoons.

Source: Craig Cyr, executive chef, Wine Cellar & Bistro

SPICED PEAR EMPANADAS

For the empanada filling:

1 tablespoon butter

3 cored and diced Bartlett pears

1/8 cup brown sugar

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat butter in sauté pan until bubbling, then add the diced pears. Add sugar, cinnamon and salt and stir until pears are coated. Cook until pears are cooked through and mixture becomes syrupy. Remove from heat and transfer to a sheet pan to cool before filling empanadas.

For the empanada dough:

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup partially frozen butter

1 large egg

1/3 cup ice water

1 teaspoon vinegar

Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl. Blend in butter cubes until the mixture resembles coarse meal (until pea size). In a small bowl, whisk together egg, ice water and vinegar. Then add to the flour mixture until incorporated. Transfer flour mixture onto lightly floured surface. Knead just enough to bring dough together; do not overwork. Cover dough and chill for one to eight hours. Roll out dough and cut into desired size circles. Add filling and brush with egg wash, then fold over filling and use a fork to seal edges by pressing back of fork along the seam of your empanadas.

Brush entire empanada with egg wash. Bake at 350 until golden brown or fry in pan by heating half butter and half canola oil in a pan on medium heat. Fry on both sides.

Beat egg yolks in a mixing bowl with salt and vanilla until pale. Bring cream and sugar to a boil, then remove from heat and slowly whisk the hot cream and sugar mixture into the egg yolks, being careful not to cook yolks. Chill combined mixture over ice bath and serve cold.

Source: Craig Cyr

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